Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/135

Rh —A small specimen of Raniceps trifurcatus has been captured here. It was taken in a waterhole left by the receding tide, and was captured owing to its pugnacity, which may be common to the species or peculiar to the individual. It was heard splashing about in its hole, a stem of seaweed was thrust in, and the fish laid hold of it and was dragged out by it.—

—While walking along the shore at Banff with some friends in May last, I noticed a lot of rubbish which the fishermen had taken from their lines, and knowing from experience what treasures are sometimes to be met with in such places, I at once began to explore on the chance. The first two heaps yielded nothing new or of much importance; but in the third I was well repaid by the discovery of a fine specimen of the above-named little Starfish, Asterina gibbosa. I am not aware of the exact range of this species, having no book on the subject, nor do I know if it has hitherto been detected as occurring in the Moray Firth. This I know, however, that the specimen here alluded to is the first I have ever met with. If I may offer the advice of an old man, let me urge upon your readers who live by the sea and take an interest in marine forms of animal life, never to pass the spots where the fishermen clean their lines without first searching them well. They will not always be successful, that is not to be expected; but let them persevere, and they will sooner or later be rewarded for their trouble.— (Banff).

[There seems to be no previous record, so far as we have been able to ascertain, of the occurrence of Asterina gibbosa on the east coast of Great Britain. In Forbes' 'British Starfish' it is said to be "apparently confined to the western and southern shores of Britain," and the localities mentioned are Cornwall, Isle of Man, Ross-shire, Herm, Channel Isles, and all round the coast of Ireland. To these localities, Gray, in his 'Synopsis of Starfishes,' adds Plymouth Sound. The habitatathabitat [sic] now assigned to it by Mr. Edward, therefore, is new, and the fact is interesting as establishing the occurrence of this starfish much further to the north and east than has hitherto been supposed.—]

 

January 18, 1877.—Prof. President, in the chair.

Mr. Thomas Routledge and Mr. Samuel David Titmas were balloted for and duly elected Fellows of the Society.

The "Amphibious and Migratory Fishes of India" was the title of a very 